Uproar in Switzerland as prostitute Griselidis Real buried near Protestant John Calvin

A prostitute who campaigned for the rights of sex workers has been honoured with a burial plot in the same cemetery where Protestantism's John Calvin is buried, sparking criticism from women's rights activists.

Griselidis Real, who died in 2005, was buried on Monday at the Cemetery of the Kings, which is reserved for individuals that have profoundly marked Swiss or international history. Argentinian writer Jose Luis Borges and child psychologist Jean Piaget are among the luminaries interred in the cemetery.

Geneva's Protestant Church has been reserved in its criticism about the reburial, even though the former fighter for prostitutes' rights now rests near one of the central figures in the history of Christianity.

This year the city once known as the "Protestant Rome" is honouring Calvin's 500th birthday with publications, exhibitions and performances. The celebrations, however, have been somewhat muted, perhaps in deference to the 16th-century theologian's stern views on life and excess.